The 13th season of the IPL ended on 10th November and a couple of weeks after that international cricket was back. Three series between six great cricketing nations started on the same day and all the cricket fans were back to watching cricket on their TV screens. It was a great IPL for all the fans who had missed cricket for a while but some of the players didn’t enjoy it as much.
There were a few players who are great international players but somehow, they failed to deliver in this year’s IPL. But as soon as the IPL was over they put on their national jerseys and they were back at their best. It was surprising to see the same players who were struggling in the IPL, started smashing the bowlers all over the park. So, let’s have a look at four such players who failed in the IPL but are doing well in International cricket.
4. Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler is a match-winner in white-ball cricket and especially T20 cricket. He was the Rajasthan Royals star performer over the last couple of years but this season he wasn’t quite there with his batting. His batting position was changed after a while as he was batting in the middle-order and Ben Stokes was opening the batting.
The RR batsman managed to score only 328 runs in 13 IPL games this season. But in the T20 series against South Africa, he was back at his best as he scored a crucial fifty in the last game which helped England chase down a 190+ total. Buttler is too good a player to keep failing in the IPL and so there is no doubt that he will make a strong comeback in the next IPL.
3. Aaron Finch
The Australian white-ball skipper was picked as the senior opener in the RCB team to support the likes of Kohli and De Villiers but he failed to make any sort of impact in the IPL. In 12 games, he scored only 268 runs at an average of 22.33 and a strike-rate of 111.20. Finch was dropped in the second half of the tournament.
On the other hand, Finch started the India-Australia ODI series on a bang as he scored a century in the first game followed by a half-century in the second and third ODI. He looked in good touch in the first T20I before he injured himself for the second T20I. Finch has failed in the IPL for a number of years and RCB might look for another opener in the next season.
2. Steve Smith
The Rajasthan Royals skipper had a perfect start to the IPL as he scored heavily in the first two games. After those two games, Smith looked completely out of sorts as he got a string of low scores and was getting out while trying to slog the ball which is not his natural game. He managed to score 311 runs in 14 innings at an average of 25.91 and a strike-rate of 131.22.
Before the India-Australia series, Smith said that he has found his hands, and even though many people didn’t understand what that meant he showed it with his performances on the field as he scored back-to-back centuries in 60 oddballs in the first two ODIs. His centuries were crucial for Australia which helped them score big at the SCG.
1. Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell who keeps getting a lot of money in the IPL had a terrible season with KXIP as he scored only 108 runs in 11 innings at an average of 15.42 and a strike-rate of 101.88. He failed to hit a single six in the whole IPL season.
It seemed as if somebody else was batting with the same name in the ODI series as Maxwell started smashing the bowlers from the word go. He scored 167 runs in three innings at an average of 83.5 and a strike-rate of 194.19. He was playing T20 knocks in the ODI games. Even in the T20Is, he scored some big runs which helped Australia win the third T20I. KXIP might look to release him before the next auction after his IPL performance.
